Literature Search: Library Search

Step 1

Library Search is a good place to begin any literature search. To conduct a simple search, enter one or more terms in the search box. To the right of the search box is a drop-down menu with the options for searching all our content including databases, the library catalog only, articles only, or e-books only. When doing a literature search it is best to search everything or, if the searcher wishes to limit the search to articles, to select the articles only option.

In the search below, the user is looking for materials that examine the effect of trade liberalization on employment and conducts a simple search by entering the following terms in the search box, "trade liberalization" and "employment". The user chooses the "everything" option in the drop-down menu. By placing the words trade liberalization in parentheses, these words are treated as a single term or keyword. If there were no parentheses, the search engine would retrieve documents that have both keywords, even if they have no relation to each other.
 

Step 2

By default, the results will sort by relevance but the user also has the option of sorting results by date, title, and author. The left side of the screen displaying the results has several filters that users may employ to narrow the search.

Performing an advanced search allows users to refine their searches by specifying particular fields to be searched.

Step 3

Look at the first citation on the results page. Notice the “Available Online” link below the citation. Click on that link.

Step 4

A page will appear that includes a fuller abstract of the article and a link to the article in EBSCO. Click on the EBSCO link.

A page of the EBSCO database now appears that has a link to a PDF for the full article. In addition to viewing the article, it also possible to do additional searches of the EBSCO Academic Search Complete database from this page. By clicking on the “Choose Databases” link at the top of the page, it is possible to search other EBSCO databases.

Similarly it is possible to search for articles in other databases within the Primo universe, either by accessing the database from Primo as we have just done with EBSCO. by directly accessing these databases through the MyAthens page of Open Athens or by accessing the databases through the "Databases, A-Z"  link  on the library homepage.

Patrons interested in obtaining materials that are cited in Primo but not available in full text should contact the library, research@doc.gov. We can usually obtain journal articles for patrons within 24-48 hours. Until the Commerce Research Library reopens, we are unable to borrow books through interlibrary loan, but we are willing to consider purchasing e-books for our collection.